Parallel Heat (36 page)

The colonel gave him a nonplussed look. ‘‘Not buying it.’’

With a frustrated sigh, Scott launched into his life story—the extremely abbreviated version. ‘‘The Antousians have a vested interest in your species because humans are the key to solving a deadly virus that has killed millions of their despicable people. We’ve had humans on our world.’’

‘‘And you’re related to them, those humans?’’

‘‘A descendant.’’ Scott wanted to shout to the ceiling in relief; he despised the gruesome details of his parentage, and was thankful not to own up to his Antousian roots. But his relief was short-lived.

‘‘But you’re related to these Antousians too?’’

Scott flinched. ‘‘Not precisely, sir.’’

‘‘Not precisely, huh?’’ the colonel mocked. ‘‘Why,
precisely
, aren’t you on their side?’’

‘‘Because I revile that part of me. I’m Refarian, Colonel. In my heart, if not in my blood. I have served our exiled king, Jared Bennett, for the past fifteen years of my life. He’s noble, compassionate, and has a great love for your species. A great love.’’ Scott considered telling the man that Jared’s wife was human, but his instincts told him to protect her identity.

‘‘So if we’re to believe you, your own people—’’

‘‘They are
not
my people,’’ Scott corrected.

‘‘These Antousians, then, are behind the launch against this base?’’

It was Marco who spoke this time. ‘‘That’s what we’ve been told, sir.’’

‘‘Told how?’’

Marco and Scott traded a look; Scott had no idea what had transpired in the days since his capture, so he nodded for Marco to continue.

The colonel barked at the Madjin, ‘‘You’d better tell me, son, and fast.’’

‘‘We have abilities—gifts—that your own species doesn’t possess,’’ he explained in a rush. ‘‘You’d call them telepathic abilities.’’

‘‘And you call them?’’

‘‘Intuitive gifts,’’ Marco replied.

‘‘Somebody warned you?’’ The colonel tapped his fingers on the table.

Marco hesitated, then answered, ‘‘Yes, a woman I’m very close to. She was able to reach into my mind.’’

The colonel shoved back from the table. ‘‘I don’t know whether you’re playing me or not. In fact, I don’t know shit from shinola about what might be true here.’’

‘‘Polygraph me,’’ Scott volunteered. ‘‘I’ll pass. With flying colors.’’

‘‘That doesn’t mean squat, son. You could use these ‘special abilities’ of yours to make yourself pass. Why else you think we haven’t bothered with that?’’

Scott leaned across the table with serious intent. ‘‘Colonel, we are both military men. We both say the word and our word is done. We also know what a threat can mean to our home world—a true, barbaric threat. I am telling you, sir, that these
vlksai
are after your blood. They will wipe out your species, taking as many hosts as they require, and burn the rest. Please, you’ve got to trust me here—’’

Marco cut him off. ‘‘We can still align our forces and defeat them. Or you can sit back and watch them destroy this base and take hold of your missiles. That’s the plan, Colonel. To seize the launch controls and strike Earth with your own weapons.’’

Scott gaped at Marco—was that what they’d learned since his capture? That the Antousians were that intent on destroying this planet? Briefly, he recalled the terrain of Hope’s dream, how Earth seemed but a ruined shell of the world he knew.

The colonel sighed impatiently. ‘‘This underground facility is built to withstand a thermonuclear blast.’’

‘‘They have weapons you haven’t even thought about inventing,’’ Marco replied calmly. ‘‘They can penetrate the base.’’

‘‘Why haven’t they done it before now?’’

‘‘They’ve been lying in wait,’’ Scott answered. ‘‘For just the prime moment when they know they can pull it off. We don’t know what’s changed. More forces perhaps, bigger cruisers, it’s impossible to say.’’

The colonel stood, paced the room, clearly wrestling with a decision. At last he turned and faced them both. ‘‘Some kind of giant starship is positioned over the base,’’ he admitted. ‘‘They’ve dropped forces in and those soldiers are engaged in guerrilla attacks. They got under our radar; we can’t lock in on ’em. Our soldiers are trained in every type of warfare—’’

‘‘Except with an invisible enemy,’’ Scott said, revealing the one final piece of intel that would make the colonel understand the stakes.

‘‘Invisible? What the hell are you talking about?’’

‘‘Shape-shifters, sir. Capable of assuming a formless condition,’’ Scott answered plainly. ‘‘It’s the same way they take hold of human hosts.’’

The colonel gaped at them both, and then spun away from them, striding quickly toward the door.

Scott called after him. ‘‘We’re asking for your trust, sir, and if we’re lying, you’ve lost nothing. Whatever measures you’ve got to take to protect the control centers, take them. Bring in more troops. Let us bring in ours.’’

The colonel turned on his heel to face him. ‘‘That ain’t ever going to happen. We don’t cooperate with extraterrestrials.’’

‘‘Then you’d better explain to your generals that you’ve just signed Earth’s death warrant.’’

Chapter Twenty-three

Marco! Marco, talk to me!
Thea panted, watching the radar that displayed the Antousians full assault on Warren Air Force Base. They’d carpet bombed the facility by air, dropped in untold forces, and were now in the midst of a hostile takeover. The one thing they couldn’t ascertain was how secure the underground facility remained at this point. So far, Thea hadn’t successfully connected with Marco.

Maybe our bond isn’t strong enough for this kind of distant communication,
Thea worried.
Or maybe he’s dead.
That thought nearly caused her to retch, but she forced her thoughts to still, focusing only on Marco.

Marco, talk to me,
she attempted again. Gripping the console, she gathered all her core energy, spinning it hotter and stronger until her knuckles went white.
More power, more heat,
she thought,
then I can reach him.

With one giant fire-burst of energy, she flung her essence across space and distance toward her near-mate, crying out to him with all her soul’s passion.
Marccccccoooooo!

Thea, I’m here,
came his barely audible voice.
I’m with you. Don’t be afraid. I’m here
. Even in the midst of such monumental danger, he was the one reassuring her.

Tears welled within her eyes.
You’re still alive.

You hang on!
she implored.
You stay safe for me. Do you understand? You have to be safe for me—for
us
, Marco!

I’m in my cell, but there are explosions all around,
he confided in a low voice—which was obviously instinctive, even though their communication was completely private.

No, it’s not! It can’t be,
she insisted, clutching at her head in desperation; across the console Jared glanced up at her, his face drawn tight with concern.

She put her back to him, and stepped to the far side of the control room as if she were on a private comm. She didn’t want Jared and the others to see her tears.
Listen to me,
she told Marco,
you make it out of there. We’re going to have a life together, a family. Please don’t give up.

She sensed his assent rather than heard any audible reply. Wiping at her eyes, she waited, and didn’t just rush to fill the void, even though holding silent took an extreme act of will.

At last he whispered,
How has your body handled the near-bonding? My gift, is it—

She immediately allayed any of his fears.
I haven’t felt anything. I’m fine, Marco.
She laughed, knowing it sounded forced.
See, I told you there wasn’t anything to worry about.

I guess not,
he said in a voice that struck Thea as far too resigned.
I guess not.

She sensed chaotic emotions threaten to rupture their connection, had the feeling Marco was talking to someone—and became frantic in her reaction.
What’s happening there—tell me.

Don’t break away. We might lose our link!
Even if it meant staying joined with him until the bitter end, she wouldn’t have him face the battle alone.

Long silence, anxiety from his side, a burst of fear and anger . . . then at last he returned.
Thea, I’ll stay with you for as long as I can.

 
Marco and Scott were spread prone on the cell’s floor, hands behind their heads. A knot of security officers surrounded them, and there was the sound of rifles cocking. This was it; they would be executed quickly before the Antousians took over. The sounds of pulse fire and grenade explosions echoed in the distance.

‘‘You should have cooperated,’’ the colonel told them in a voice utterly devoid of emotion.

‘‘Your base is falling into Antousian hands because you wouldn’t listen,’’ Scott replied just as calmly. ‘‘Because you didn’t, we can’t save you now.’’

Footsteps came closer to their heads and Marco flinched reflexively as he prepared to take his bullet. Blocking, he protected Thea from his gut-wrenching fear. The last thing she needed was to experience the gruesome reality of his death across their bond, but he also knew that duty required that he maintain their connection, no matter that cost. So he blocked—hard.

Somewhere in his heart he felt grateful; if he had to die, at least he’d been allowed to near-mate with the love of his life. For at least a few moments, he’d known what true bonding with Thea might be. The bliss of it, the driving need for her as his mate; the unshakable knowledge that they’d partially sealed themselves to one another. No, he could take any bullet now, and at least know that he’d tasted heaven before he got there.

The colonel dropped down beside Scott. ‘‘
Could
you have saved us?’’ the human asked in what seemed to be earnest inquiry.

Marco waited for Scott to reply, counting the silent seconds that spun out between them all. Death, decision, fate, it all hung in the balance.

‘‘Colonel, if I could contact my own commander, there might still be a way. If we could bring our battle cruiser into position over the base—’’

‘‘How would you reach him?’’

No way would Scott betray Jared’s location by contacting him, but Marco had an idea. ‘‘If you give me a secure line where
he
can contact
you
, I’ll relay the number . . . telepathically,’’ he volunteered, intentionally invoking the human description that would best describe his near-bond with Thea.

‘‘All right.’’ The colonel scribbled on a notepad, tore the sheet off and laid it beside Marco’s head. ‘‘Have him call this number. I’ll be waiting.’’ Then the officer stepped away, barking: ‘‘Get these men up. I need them ready to roll.’’

 
Jared dialed the number, not directly to Colonel Peters, but via a series of relays, rendering his call untraceable. The officer answered on the first ring. Jared identified himself as commander of the Refarian resistance.

‘‘The situation is disintegrating rapidly, Commander,’’ Peters said. ‘‘I understand you might be able to help.’’

Jared paced the length of the control room. For the past hour a thought had been gaining ground within his mind, and now that an Antousian takeover seemed unstoppable, his developing plan grew far more insistent.

‘‘Set my men free, arm them, and I’ll see what I can do.’’

‘‘What assurance do I have that you’ll defend the base?’’

‘‘Well, you’re out of options—and Lieutenant Dillon is the best Antousian tracker I’ve ever seen. You need assistance, and we’re ready to pour it on. But we need your cooperation. And tell Dillon he better not shape-shift, not at any cost, because we have a counterattack in mind.’’

On the other end of the line the colonel hesitated. ‘‘All right,’’ he agreed, albeit reluctantly. ‘‘Done. What now?’’

‘‘You keep control of that base until we have time to put our plan in effect,’’ Jared said, then cut the line.

 
Jared, Kelsey, and Thea, along with a full science team, were dropped just outside the mitres chamber within mere moments, the transport hurtling them there at maximum velocity. Without any time to spare, ‘‘proceeding cautiously’’ hadn’t been on the commander’s top list of priorities, Thea noted. Neither had entering the chamber cautiously: She and Kelsey had formed a rudimentary, hurried link, opening the portal, and they’d all been dumped unceremoniously on the cool floor of the chamber. With muddled senses and dazed reactions, they set to work on Jared’s plan, and Thea noted in passing that traversing the portal seemed much easier this time around.

In order to enter the chambers, Thea had been forced to break the bond with Marco. It had taken all of her soldier’s resolve to let him go, knowing she might never see him—at least not alive—again. But she’d done it, finding it surprisingly easy to form a link with her queen; much easier than last time, in fact, but then again, their relationship had already transformed drastically in only the past few days. Still, no amount of trust or developing confidence in her new queen had prepared her for what Jared declared after they’d safely entered the chamber. It was an insane strategy, yet if it worked, the ballsy move would save not only Earth, but all their lives.

‘‘So this is all Kelsey’s idea?’’ Thea couldn’t disguise her shock. ‘‘The whole plan?’’

Kelsey and Jared exchanged a look as the human strode toward the coiling unit. Just like last time, the energy inside instantly reacted, glowing hotter and brighter. ‘‘Jared’s plan,’’ Kelsey answered, ‘‘but with a bit of embellishment from me.’’

Thea planted a hand on her hip. ‘‘How do you already know enough about the mitres to have any plans or embellishments?’’